Firm says it's hired to carry U.S. plane off Chinese island

A Russian air cargo company said Saturday it has been selected to fly a dismantled U.S. Navy spy plane out of China.

Leonid Shirobokov, a spokesman for Polyot, told Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies that his company had won the contract, announced last week by the U.S. Defense Department.

He said a Russian Antonov 124-100 will take the EP-3 spy plane from the military airfield on the Chinese island of Hainan, but he did not give a date for the operation.

A Pentagon spokesman could not immediately confirm the Polyot contract. Last week, the Defense Department said it was looking to hire two Antonov aircraft for the job.

The U.S. aircraft collided with a Chinese fighter during a reconnaissance flight April 1. It made an emergency landing on Hainan Island off southernChina, and the crew was detained by the Chinese for 11 days.

Washington wanted to repair the plane and fly it home, but China refused to allow it.

Pentagon officials said dismantling the aircraft, packing it aboard the Antonov and returning it to the United States would likely take several weeks.